The opinions expressed here are my own, not someone else's. If they seem rational, that's purely coincidental and you are likely reading far too much between the lines.

Friday, 26 October 2007

The Garden is in Decline but the Community is in an Upswing

The end of October is quickly approaching, so it's almost time to carve up the pumpkins. I planted my own too late this year and had to buy them, and because it was so dry, the pumpkin selection is kind of poor. Expect some photos of my carving talents in the days to come! But don't expect me to be cackling over a cauldron any time soon.

The garden is almost done for the year. If forecasts prove correct, we'll get a killing frost on Monday. But there are still some beautiful things out there.

Bernd sent me a link to this song that I'm sure many will find as funny as I did; I had to wipe the tears from my eyes. Note however that if you're inclined to see blasphemy where others see innocent humor, don't bother going; I can't imagine anyone taking offense, but I don't like to offend anyone.

I'd like to brag about the modeling community just a bit. There are just so many cool things going on! It's like we're having a great party and everyone wants to come to it. The contributors are schooling of fish:

I strongly encourage the modeling community to come forth with their EclipseCon proposals. Tutorials are free this year so expect lots of attendees. The modeling-specific tutorials will be available in eight two hour slots, so our community can mix and match to suit their specialized interests. Don't wait until the last minute! I want to hear all about what other people are doing so I'll avoid using up any slots myself. Don't be shy, we all want to see you:

At the risk of having yet another interrupt mechanism to destroy my productivity, I wanted to advertise the fact that Nick has convinced me to hang out on the IRC channel for #eclipse-modeling. Hopefully folks will hang out and help each other. So far it's been pretty quiet, so I sure hope I'm not opening the floodgates. Sometimes I feel like a conductor when what I really want most is to play a musical instrument myself...

About Me

I lead the top-level Eclipse Modeling Project as well as the Eclipse Modeling Framework subproject. I hold a Ph.D. in Computing Science from Simon Fraser University. I have my own small company, Macro Modeling, and my work at Eclipse is funded by itemis AG.